Byrnes & Rupkey has been a powerhouse recruiting agency in Top Echelon Network for several years, starting with Lois Rupkey, the owner of the agency when it joined the Network in July of 2014.
Lois made 53 split placements in Top Echelon Network before selling the agency to Kristy Staggs and retiring in 2018. For her part, Kristy has picked up where Lois left off. In fact, she recently made her 100th placement in Top Echelon Network!
Kristy Staggs
And, as if that wasn’t enough, Byrnes & Rupkey is also celebrating a Top Echelon milestone overall. That’s because the agency recently surpassed the $1 million mark for cash-in since it joined the Network a little over eight years ago.
Kristy, who is also celebrating her 25th year in the recruiting profession, specializes in Food & Beverage Manufacturing, as well as Industrial Manufacturing. She has been a remarkably consistent producer in Top Echelon Network. For instance, she’s made 13 split placements so far this year, with three more ready to finalize in the near future. Last year, she finished with 19 Network splits.
Kristy and Sara Gallagher, another recruiter at the agency, solely work the client side of the split placement process. (Gallagher has been part of 12 splits in the Network.)
According to Kristy, the biggest key to their collective success in Top Echelon is the Network Pillar of Active Participation. To say that they are split-minded would be an understatement.
“Since joining the Network, we have heavily relied on our affiliates to work our jobs and provide us with candidates to present to our clients for our openings,” said Kristy. “We are 100% placers and have longstanding client companies that we’ve worked with for the past 20-30+ years. We have a very good rapport with them.
“As a small agency with just Sara and myself, we usually have an overabundance of job openings, typically around 60-90+ openings at one time. This is way more than the two of us can handle on our own, so we turn to our TE affiliates to work and post our jobs.”
Top Echelon recommends Network recruiters share all of their jobs with other members in order to maximize exposure and ensure that they fill the jobs as quickly as possible. Kristy and Sara have definitely taken that recommendation to heart, and it has served as one of the cornerstones of their Network success.
“The minute we get a new job in, we post it to the Network, usually before we have time to run a search of our own database candidates,” said Kristy. “This is why I would say typically 80% or higher of ALL of our placements are usually a TE split placement! We would rather make multiple hires and get candidates to our clients immediately and keep them happy as their ‘only recruiter’ or ‘go-to recruiter,’ as opposed to waiting a week or two and trying to fill the job on our own before posting it to the Network.
According to Kristy, though, the benefits of Top Echelon Network membership go beyond the financial. During her time as a member, she has built and developed many business relationships and friendships with other members. Just like the placements she’s made, these are relationships she would not have formed if not for her Network membership.
“We have formed so many great relationships and friendships with our TE partners, many of whom have been a great mentor to me over the years,” said Kristy, who also uses Top Echelon’s applicant tracking software. “We definitely would not be as successful as we have been within the Network without those great trading partners who we communicate with regularly.
“Top Echelon Network and their [recruiting software] system have been a huge part of Byrnes & Rupkey’s success.”
Congratulations to Kristy Staggs for making 100 split placements and to Byrnes & Rupkey for reaching the $1 million mark in Top Echelon Network!
(Editor’s note: If you recently reached a Network milestone in Top Echelon, we’d like to hear about it! Send an email to marketing@topechelon.com.)
